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Athlete Profile – Alexandra Scheepers (Windhoek Gimnasium)

By Hannes Nienaber , in Athletics | Featured Athletics | News , at 2024-02-19 Tags: , ,

ALEXANDRA SCHEEPERS (Windhoek Gimnasium) jumped to gold in the girl u15 item with a new record distance of 5.87m. PHOTO: Marius Nortjé

Namibia’s golden jumper, Alexandra Scheepers, already made history but she is without a doubt an exciting prospect for the future as well.

The 14-year-old from Curro Windhoek Gimnasium set the field alight during Saturday’s annual Curro Podium Grand Finale at the Pilditch Stadium in Pretoria. She set two new meeting records in the high jump and long jump for girls u15.

It was her performance in the high jump that saw her being awarded as the Junior Girl Field Athlete of the meeting. She cleared the bar at 1.75m to not only secure gold but also set a new meeting record.

To make her performance even more spectacular is the fact that her winning height was also better than the heights achieved by the u19 and u17 champions at the meeting. Mia Janse van Rensburg (Garsfontein) won the u19 item with a jump of 1.70m, while Anjé Bezuidenhout won gold in the u17 age group by clearing 1.73m.

Janse van Rensburg represented South Africa at the African Championships of 2022 in Mauritius. Her personal best is 1.76m which she achieved in 2022 during the Pretoria A Bond.

“I started doing high jump four years ago and I enjoy it so much that I would like to do it till I physically can’t do it anymore,” said Scheepers.

The long jump record for girls u15 at the Curro Podium Grand Finale also belongs to Scheepers after she won gold with a jump of 5.87m.

The Windhoek-born Scheepers became the first Namibian to win a gold medal in high jump during the World School Sports Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Her winning jump of 1.67m was her personal best at that stage.

She believes that she got her exceptional talent from her parents, Gideon and Karin Scheepers, who both also excelled in athletics. “My father was a pole vaulter, while my mother also showed a lot of promise during her athletics career,” said Scheepers.

Scheepers was also given the apt nickname, Springs, by former Namibian sprinter Jolene Jacobs.

As a backup, she is planning to study Sports Science or become biokineticist. But for now, her next big meeting is the Namibian National Schools Championships where she is aiming to go even higher and jump a 1.80m.

Hannes Nienaber
error: Sorry ol' chap, those shenanigans are not permissible.